The Grey Ship
by LuxaLovesLawnmowers
Summary: Legolas is scared of being alone, and Gimli helps. May contain spoilers if you haven't read the Appendixes.


Disclaimer- I do not own the Lord of the Rings.

This is just a little something I thought of. If you read Appendix A of Return of the King, it states that Legolas and Gimli leave after Aragorn's death. I just thought I'd expand on that.

Please tell me what you think.

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Legolas gazed in front of him. Alls he could see was the landscape of Gondor. He and Gimli were on their way to visit King Elessar. Aragorn was on his deathbed. Legolas was distracted, and Gimli could tell.

"Legolas, why don't we stop at the nearest stream for lunch?" he suggested.

It was too early for lunch, and they both knew it. Legolas stopped anyway and he and Gimli slid off their horse. Legolas didn't say a word.

They sat there at the bank of the stream for awhile, till Gimli looked at Legolas.

"What's wrong? You've been quite this whole journey."

Legolas didn't answer, just stared at his reflection in the water. It was smooth and unaffected by the sands of time. He had looked the same way when he had first met Aragorn. Aragorn had been but a child then, living in Rivendell, and Legolas had been sent by King Thranduil to spend some time there. Despite their age difference, they had become good friends. Once Aragorn's face had been smooth and unwrinkled. Now it was creased, for over eighty years had passed since their first meeting.

He glanced at Gimli. His face was little different, his beard perhaps a little grayer than it had been in earlier years. But Gimli too would grow old and die, and Legolas would been the last elf in Middle-Earth. Never more had Legolas yearned to follow the desire of his heart.

Legolas stood and circled a tree restlessly. "Oh Gimli, my old friend, I have never seen the light of the Eldar the way I do now. I used to pity all other races for not living the long life of an elf, but now I am the one to be pitied. At least you have the comfort of knowing that you will one day pass from this Earth and not be left alone forever." said Legolas, barely audible over the whispering of the trees. "The one place I would not have to fear that fate is gone, the last ship to over the sea has left."

Gimli looked at Legolas for a moment. Then he began to sing, horribly out of tune, but recognizable nonetheless.

"To the sea, To the sea, The white gulls are crying."

Legolas stared at Gimli out of shock and surprise. Gimli remembered that song he had sung so many years ago. Legolas opened his mouth.

"The wind I blowing and the white foam is flying." he sang, his voice as light as a feather on the wind.

It was Gimli's turn. "West, West away, The round sun is setting."

"Gray ship, gray ship do you hear them calling?" sang Legolas.

And together, one low, raspy voice and one high, clear voice they finished the song.

"The voices of my people that have gone before me.

I will leave, I will leave, the forests that bore me.

For our days are ending and our years failing.

I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing.

Long are the waves of the Last Shores calling

Sweet are the voices of the Lost Isle calling

For Eressea, for Elvenhome that no man can discover

Where the leaves fall not, land of my people forever."

They stood there for a moment, elf and dwarf, before Legolas looked in the direction of the sea.

"I see now. Thank you, Gimli. We must go to see King Elessar, and then we will build our own grey ship and sail over the seas ourselves."

"Your forgetting one thing." said Gimli gruffly.

"What is that?"

"Sam. He'll want to go and see Frodo again. With Aragorn…dying…he won't want to be alone in the Fellowship."

Legolas laughed. "You're right of course, Gimli, how could I forget? We will bring dear old Sam with us and cross to the Undying Lands. Then we will see Gandalf and Frodo again, and Elrond and the others. We will live there for all eternity, and never have to worry about being alone."

Gimli nodded in agreement. "But first we visit Aragorn."

Legolas took hold of Gimli and swung him onto the horse. "Yes. First we visit Aragorn."

And they went off again towards Gondor, Legolas singing quietly to himself under his breath.

Gimli had never realized before that moment how much friends meant to Legolas before that day, and how much he feared being alone.


End file.
